No prairie fire spread faster than did the news from Washington. President Lincoln had been shot. Some say that he was mortally wounded, lingering on the outskirts of death; others had heard, that the President was no longer among the living – that he died instantly from massive gun wounds.

They say the assassin was Confederate sympathizer, the famous actor, John Wilkes Booth. Yet I had heard from a reliable source that it was the act of congressional conspirators, Northern zealots enraged over Lincoln’s plans for general amnesty for the South. I can’t imagine that a man of the fame and stature of Booth would do such an evil act. Besides, I had heard that actors such as Booth played both sides of the war. The government had to be somehow involved. Who else could get to the President like that? Surely insiders were mixed in this conspiracy.

I think I heard them say that the Vice-President had also been killed. I surely could see that coming. My friends in Washington often shared with me the stories of his corruption. And some of those accounts were mighty shocking. Like the scandal of his appropriating funds for his personal use, or the many romantic trysts he had when the liquor had gained control over him. Or, at least, that is what I have been told. Mind you, I really don’t have firsthand evidence, but where there’s smoke, usually there’s fire.

I would think that this will reignite the war. We all know that there are many people in Washington who would love to stake claim to some of those Southern land holdings. I can already hear the troops being called to arms. Possibly even our own regiment will need to be reactivated. We best not get too comfortable with this recent peace. War is coming again.

The newspaper hits the streets about noon tomorrow. And you know those newspaper folks; they’ll spin this all to their way of thinking. You can’t trust what you read in the press. Nowadays, you have got to get the truth yourself.

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The Civil War itself was fueled by rumors and innuendos from both sides printed in newspapers and pamphlets. Good insight that a false rumor could have easily started the war over again. Thought-provoking story.